Around the world, many will remember Cardinal Law as a man who chose to protect the Catholic Church instead of protecting those who were victimized by priests.

In Mississippi, the knowledge of his coverups conflict with the man they knew as a champion for civil rights.

Law died Wednesday in Rome after being admitted to hospice care. He was 86.

Janna Avalon, former editor of Mississippi Catholic, remembers Law as a purveyor of social justice.

“I always felt like he was a mentor to me,” Avalon said. “I got to see his leadership skills, organizational skills. He was a wonderful journalist.”

During the civil rights movement, Law, then Father Law, wrote editorials encouraging Catholics to stand up for equal rights.

“He was a wonderful editorial writer so he got into lots of issues that some of the other newspapers around were timid about getting into,” Avalon said. “He was not timid at all about how he spoke to Catholics about our obligations for social justice.”

Law’s friend Mary Woodward said, while in Jackson, Law had “great concern for the poor and marginalized” and fought against racism and segregation.

“When he was here he was pretty much on the front lines of the civil rights movement,” said Woodward, director of the Office of Liturgy and Worship for the Diocese of Jackson.

After the death of Medgar Evers, Law was one of the first at the family’s side.

The late journalist Bill Minor once recalled seeing Law — who began his career in the old Natchez-Jackson Diocese — drag a bishop from the rectory in downtown Jackson to meet, console and pray with Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers, and her family.

Bishop Bernard Law, age 47, 1979(Photo: News-Leader file photo)

"I also personally saw him and the bishop walk in the ashes of a burned black church about 30 or 40 miles away from Jackson in 1964," Minor previously told The Clarion-Ledger. "He did it because he was concerned about people — all people."

Avalon said Law was particularly passionate about voting rights. His “forward thinking” played a large role in his involvement in the creation of the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference, Avalon said.

Law left Mississippi for Missouri where he was appointed. He then moved to Boston to take the role of the archbishop of Boston and, later, Cardinal.

All of his work was overshadowed, however, when a Boston Globe investigation revealed Law had covered up numerous predatory priests who preyed on members of their congregation, molesting and raping children.

Avalon said the problem wasn’t just in Boston. It happened in Jackson as well.

“All the issues in Boston that seems to take away some of the positivity of his career made people here sad,” Avalon said. “He inherited all of that but that’s not to say we didn’t have problems here as well. It was not just in Boston that there were problems, but Boston became the open door to show those difficulties in the church.

“I think he had seen what was going on. Personally, I don’t think the bishops knew exactly what to do back them so they shifted folks around rather than what they started doing in 2001 and dealing with the massiveness of the problem.”

Law resigned from his role in Boston in late 2002 and moved to Rome. He was appointed as archpriest of the Bisilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in 2004. He retired in 2011.

Woodward had lunch with Law shortly after he resigned in Boston.

“He always expressed concern and remorse and regret for what happened, but we all make bad decisions, and I think he carried the burden of the church on his shoulders very gracefully.”

The Law Woodward knew was “one of the kindest, most prayerful people you would ever meet.”

“He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it,” she said.

After the scandal, Law lived a quiet life in Rome, Woodward said, “almost like a monk in a monastery.”

“He did the best he could with the situation,” she said. “I think people had the wrong idea when he went to Rome. He just did what he had to do in terms of, 'this is my life now and I will do what’s I’m asked to do.' They thought it was a promotion, but it was really just this is where he can go and still be a priest and serve the church but in a very non-public way.”

Woodward last saw Law two years ago when she went to visit him in Rome. At the airport, she hugged him goodbye and told him she loved him.

“He’s been a great influence in my life. I’ve enjoyed and cherished all the times we’ve spent together,” she said. “Everyone has their path and number of days on this earth, and you hope you can influence some people the best you can and, if you hurt people, you hope you can mend those hurts, and I think he had tried to do that .

“In spite of everything, he was still a good priest and a good Christian man that always just wanted to serve the Lord and serve people in sometimes very difficult circumstances. He’ll be remembered for that which is unfortunate…He’s not the monster people make him out to be. Just a very kind, good person.”

In his death, Avalon said she would remember Law’s “classic positive attributes.”

“He never forgot people,” she said. “He would go away but he always maintained connections with the diocese and with folks as individuals which said a lot for him as far as his friendships as well as interest in what was going on here.

“I think he always had that love for Mississippi because he had been here and had chosen to be here.”